Maimed soldiers.
By section 28, appropriation act of March, 1886, the sum of $20,000 was appropriated to furnish artificial limbs to indigent maimed soldiers; and by section 27 of the appropriation act of December, 1866, the further sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the same purpose.
By reference to the books kept by my predecessors, I find that the first-named sum has been about exhausted, and that something over $12,000 of the second appropriation has been drawn.
By a resolution of the General Assembly, maimed soldiers, under certain circumstances, were allowed to draw from the treasury the value of an artificial limb in cases where the stump was so short that such limb could not be fitted to it, and several applications of this kind have been presented to me since being in charge of the
Comptroller's office, and I have been somewhat perplexed in determining what was the proper course to pursue.
Although the appropriation has not been exhausted, and this unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens has commanded my deepest sympathy, yet I have, from a stern sense of official duty, persistently refused to approve any of these claims.
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my dear brother—I am this morning in receipt of your letter of the 3d instant, and I regret it is not in my power to furnish accurate answers to your leading inquiries.
General Marcus J. Wright, of the
War Record Office, War Department,
Washington, D. C., will, in my judgment, be best qualified to impart the desired information.
All the captured Confederate records are accessible to him. He is much interested in all matters appertaining to Confederate affairs, having been a brigadier-general in Confederate service, and can, without doubt, turn at once to documents on file in the department which will satisfy your inquiries.
I believe he will deem it a pleasure to respond, as fully as his leisure will permit, to your inquiries.
I enclose a copy of the latest act passed by the Legislature of Georgia providing for the relief of disabled Confederate soldiers.
The provision is not as ample as it should be, but it is better than nothing, and ministers measurably to the comfort of those who are entitled to every consideration.
By public benefaction
Georgia has established no hospital or home for the shelter of her disabled Confederate soldiers, but such an institution is now being builded near
Atlanta with funds privately contributed by patriotic citizens of the
State.
When that institution is fairly under way, it is hoped that the General Assembly may be induced to receive it as a public institution, to recognize it as a necessary charity, and to make provision for its proper sustentation.
Your affectionate brother,
